Paper · 2023 · Scientific Reports

Investigating how nitrogen nutrition and pruning impacts on CBD and THC concentration and plant biomass of Cannabis sativa

Enrico Dilena; Dugald C. Close; Ian Hunt; et al.

9
claims
18
verbatim quotes
23
citations
2
research areas
✓
Open access · cc-by

Abstract

Precise crop fertilization requires an in-depth understanding of plant uptake and utilisation to optimise sustainable production. This study investigated the influence of nitrogen (N) nutrition and pruning on the cannabinoid concentrations and biomass of a commercial cannabis cultivar; the rationale for this study is how N supply and pruning affect cannabinoid yields and concentration in a commercial setting. Clones of a Cannabis sativa L. (CBD-type) were grown in a controlled-environment glasshouse in pots with coarse sand. After five weeks of vegetative growth under 210 mg/L N and an 18 h light regime, rates of 30, 60, 210, and 500 mg/L N were applied to plants for twelve weeks and a light regime set at 12 h. Double stem pruning was applied as an additional treatment to investigate efficacy on biomass increase. Biomass, N concentrations, and cannabinoid concentrations were measured after the final harvest. Pruning treatment did not increase cannabinoid concentrations or affect biomass. It was coincidentally found that plants on the glasshouse edge with higher exposure to sunlight developed more biomass and higher cannabinoid concentrations. Only biomass in leaves was increased significantly via higher nitrogen nutrition. Cannabinoid concentration, as well as cannabinoid yield per plant were decreased with the increase in N supply. High rates of fertilizer are not recommended because of reduced cannabinoid concentration and biomass yield: the ideal N supply is likely to be between 60 and 210 mg/L. This research will benefit growers and advisors in understanding the complexity of effects of nitrogen fertiliser and pruning practices on plant biomass and secondary metabolite production in medicinal cannabis.

Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗

The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.

Claims 9

Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultno effectmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Pruning did not increase cannabinoid concentrations in Cannabis sativa

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Treatment
Pruning treatmente1
Outcome
cannabinoid concentrationse1
Direction
did not increasee1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Pruning treatment did not increase cannabinoid concentrations or affect biomass”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 922–1001 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultno effectmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Pruning did not change biomass of Cannabis sativa

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Treatment
Pruning treatmente1
Outcome
biomasse1
Direction
no_changeinferrede1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Pruning treatment did not increase cannabinoid concentrations or affect biomass”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 922–1001 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Plants with higher sunlight exposure at the glasshouse edge developed more biomass

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Treatment
higher exposure to sunlighte1
Outcome
biomasse1
Direction
moree1

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“It was coincidentally found that plants on the glasshouse edge with higher exposure to sunlight developed more biomass and higher cannabinoid concentrations”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1003–1159 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Plants with higher sunlight exposure at the glasshouse edge had higher cannabinoid concentrations

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Treatment
higher exposure to sunlighte1
Outcome
cannabinoid concentrationse1
Direction
highere1

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“It was coincidentally found that plants on the glasshouse edge with higher exposure to sunlight developed more biomass and higher cannabinoid concentrations”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1003–1159 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivesignificant (as stated)measured

Claim · model-written summary

Higher nitrogen nutrition significantly increased leaf biomass of Cannabis sativa

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Organ / stage
leavese1
Treatment
higher nitrogen nutritione1
Outcome
biomass in leavese1
Direction
increasede1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Only biomass in leaves was increased significantly via higher nitrogen nutrition”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1161–1241 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Increasing N supply decreased cannabinoid concentration of Cannabis sativa

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Treatment
increase in N supplye1
Outcome
Cannabinoid concentratione1
Direction
decreasede1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Cannabinoid concentration, as well as cannabinoid yield per plant were decreased with the increase in N supply”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1243–1353 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Increasing N supply decreased cannabinoid yield per plant of Cannabis sativa

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Treatment
increase in N supplye1
Outcome
cannabinoid yield per plante1
Direction
decreasede1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Cannabinoid concentration, as well as cannabinoid yield per plant were decreased with the increase in N supply”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1243–1353 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Recommendationauthor interpretationoriginal resultbasis n/a

Claim · model-written summary

The authors do not recommend high rates of fertilizer for Cannabis sativa

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Outcome
High rates of fertilizere1

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“High rates of fertilizer are not recommended because of reduced cannabinoid concentration and biomass yield”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1355–1462 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑
Recommendationauthor interpretationoriginal resultbasis n/a

Claim · model-written summary

The authors suggest an ideal N supply of 60 to 210 mg/L for Cannabis sativa

Taxon
Cannabis sativaCannabis sativat0
Outcome
ideal N supplye1
Value
60 and 210 mg/Le1

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa · TaxonThayne Tuason · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“the ideal N supply is likely to be between 60 and 210 mg/L”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1464–1522 · show in text ↑
t0

“of Cannabis sativa”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 104–122 · show in text ↑

pruning · growth · Cannabis sativaPositive and negative results

2 papers: 1 positive, 1 negative or no effect

1 in the opposite direction

  1. positive
See all 2 papers →

pruning · molecular: metabolites · Cannabis sativaPositive and negative results

3 papers: 2 positive, 1 negative or no effect

2 in the opposite direction

  1. positive
  2. positive
See all 3 papers →

nitrogen · molecular: metabolites · Cannabis sativaPositive and negative results

5 papers: 3 positive, 2 negative or no effect

1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction

  1. positive
  2. positive
  3. positive

1 paper more in this group

See all 5 papers →

nitrogen · growth · Cannabis sativaPositive and negative results

14 papers: 11 positive, 3 negative or no effect

10 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction

  1. no effect
  2. positive
  3. negative

10 papers more in this group

See all 14 papers →

nitrogen · yield · Cannabis sativaPositive and negative results

16 papers: 15 positive, 1 negative or no effect

15 in the opposite direction

  1. positive
  2. positive
  3. positive

12 papers more in this group

See all 16 papers →

Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.